Hinge arrangement for paperboard box



5. J. KAPUSTKA 3,512,698

HINGE ARRANGEMENT FOR PAPERBOARD BOX May 19, 1970 Filed Nov. 5. 1968 INVENTOR United States Patent 3,512,698 HINGE ARRANGEMENT FOR PAPERBOARD BOX Stanley J. Kapustka, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 773,579 Int. Cl. B65d /66 US. Cl. 229-44 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hinge arrangement for joining the cover and side wall of a paperboard box which will insure that when said cover is moved in an opening direction to an angle greater than 90 degrees with the normal plane of the cover it will remain in an open position, and when it is moved in a closing direction to an angle of less than 90 degrees with the normal plane of the cover it will drop to a closed position.

A serious problem that arises in connection with the use of automatic loading and palletizing equipment for hinged cover paperboard boxes, as for example paperboard beer bottle cases, is that of insuring that the covers are maintained in a fully opened position during filling and in a completely closed position thereafter.

If a cover or lid drops during automatic filling a jam up on the line occurs which can be costly. Also, once a case is filled if the cover is not completely closed the cover can be torn off or otherwise damaged by the automatic palletizing equipment.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide, in a hinged cover paperboard box, an integral hinge arrangement which will maintain the cover in a fully opened position until the cover or lid is moved past an upright position toward the closed position and then will cause the cover to drop to a completely closed position.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of an integral hinge arrangement for a paperboard box and cover which comprises a series of alternately spaced out and uncut areas, with the uncut areas being scored and the cut areas being scored and cut.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from an examination of the following description and drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the structure shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are sectional views taken on lines 33, 4-4, and 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the container with a cover in an open position; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view illustrating the relationship of the dimensions of the cutting knife to the dimension of the paperboard.

It will be understood that, for purposes of clarity, certain elements have been intentionally omitted from certain views where they are believed to be illustrated to better advantage in other views.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of the invention, it will be seen that there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 6 a container B formed of paperboard and having a hinge arrangement embodying features of the invention.

The deails of the container itself are not shown or described with great specificity, because the hinge arrange ment may be utilized with various types of containers.

For illustrative purposes the container comprises a bottom wall, not shown, having upstanding therefrom opice posed pairs of side walls 10 and end walls 12. End walls 12 may be provided with hand grip openings 14 in a conventional manner.

The cover indicated generally at C, may be a single cover or may comprise a pair of cover sections 20, as shown in FIG. 1, each of which includes a main panel 22 and a depending flange 24 around portions of the periphery thereof.

The container B, as best seen in FIG. 2, is formed of paperboard and the cover C is connected to the side wall by means of an integral hinge section, indicated generally at 30 and formed in the container at the junction of the cover panel 22 and the released side wall 10.

Still referring to FIG. 2 it will be seen that the hinge section 30 comprises a plurality of alternately spaced uncut and cut areas 40 and 50, respectively, which are preferably of equal length and width with each other.

Each of the uncut areas 40 includes a groove or depression 42 which extends longitudinally substantially the entire length of the uncut section, and which has a width substantially equal to the width of the uncut section. The depression 42 is formed in the paper-board by means of a scoring rule (not shown) which may be of a conventional type used to score the paperboard to create fold or hinge lines. Although in the embodiment illustrated in the drawing the uncut area has a single depression 42 if desired it may be possible to form the uncut area 40 with a pair of parallel depressions formed by a pair of scoring rules with the total width of the combined depressions being substantially the same as the width of the single depression 42 shown in the drawings. The depression 42 is best illustrated in FIG. 3 drawing.

Still referring to FIG. 2, and also to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the cut areas 50 of the drawing each include a pair of longitudinally extending parallel depressions or grooves 52 formed by conventional scoring rules in the paperboard and which are each of a width less than the width of the depression 42 in the uncut areas of the hinge section. Between the depressions 52 in each of the cut areas is a longitudinally extending cut 54 which extends completely through the paperboard from the outside surface to the inside surface and is best illustrated in FIG. 4. If desired, the cut areas may also include a pair of transversely extending cuts 56 disposed at opposite ends of longitudinal cut 54 and having a length substantially equal to the width of the cut area.

As explained earlier in the specification, the purpose .of the invention is to provide a hinge arrangement whereinyvhen the cover is opened to a position greater than is moved in a closingdirection to an angle less than degrees with a normal plane of the cover the cover will drop to closed position. This is accomplished by the novel cut 54 which is the essence of this invention.

In FIG. 7 there is illustrated schematically the cutting arrangement which provides for the cut 54. It will be noted that the cutting knife indicated generally at K, includes a neck portion indicated generally at N and a head portion indicated generally at H which has a double bevel.

The neck portion of the knife has a thickness shown by the line YY in FIG. 7. Half of the thickness of the knife neck YY is indicated by the line XY. The depth of the head portion or bevelled portion of the knife is indicated by the line X2 and the length or depth of each of the cutting surfaces of the knife is indicated by the line YZ. The important feature of this invention is the angle indicated generally at A between the center line XZ and either of the cutting surfaces YZ.

In order for the desired result to be accomplished it has been found that the depth of the head H of the cutting knife indicated by the line XZ must be at least as great as the thickness T of the paperboard P from which the container is formed. Additionally the angle A must bear a particular relationship to the thickness of the neck of the knife and to the thickness of the paperboard.

An example of the dimensions commonly used by applicant in the practice of this invention includes a cutting knife having a neck thickness of approximately .084 inch with half of the thickness being .042 inch. The paperboard commonly used for this type of a container construction has a thickness of in the range of from approximately .060 inch to approximately .100 inch.

With the circumstances which include the above figures it has been determined that the preferable angle A between the lines XZ and XY be 'in the range of approximately 23 degrees to approximately 31 degress.

Another way of stating this relationship is that the depth of the head portion of the cutting knife indicated by the line XZ must be at least as great as the thickness T of the paperboard in which the cut is made, and the angle between the cutting surfaces YZ and YZ must be greater than 45 degrees. The purpose of this is to insure that the cut is of suflicient width to remove or displace the paperboard in the cut so that when the cover is moved past 90 degrees in the opening direction it will be free in the cut areas to sag or rest below the 90 degree angle and thereby remain in the open position. The depressions 42 in the adjacent uncut areas facilitate bending of the cover and yet the uncut areas have enough strength to prevent the cover from being severed from the container and maintaining enough strength to be opened and closed several times without the hinge structure being destroyed.

I claim:

1. In a hinge arrangement for a paperboard box, the

combination of:

(a) a hollow body including at least one side wall;

(b) a cover including at least one cover panel;

(c) said cover panel and side wall being formed from a unitary blank of foldable paperboard and being joined by an integral hinge section which includes alternately spaced uncut and cut areas;

(d) each of said uncut areas being depressed by at least one straight scored depression formed therein from the outside thereof and extending substantially the entire distance along said uncut area in parallel relation with the upper edge of said side wall;

(e) each of said cut areas having formed therein from the outside thereof;

(1') a pair of straight scored depressions, eacn of a width substantially less than the width of the scored depression of said uncut areas, which extend substantially the entire distance along said cut area, and being formed with outwardly flaring sides having an angle therebetween of from each other;

(ii) a longitudinal cut extending substantially the entire length of said cut area and disposed between and parallel to the scored depressions of said cut area, and being formed with outwardly flaring sides having an angle therebetween of at least 45 degrees;

(f) said cut and uncut areas of said hinge section cooperating to insure that when said cover is moved in an opening direction to an angle slightly greater than degrees with the normal plane of the cover it will remain in an open position, and when it is moved in a closing direction to an angle of slightly less than 90 degrees with the normal plane of the cover it will drop to a closed position.

2. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said out and uncut areas are of substantially the same length.

3. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said out and uncut areas are of substantially the same width.

4. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein each of said out areas also includes a pair of transverse cuts disposed at opposite ends of said longitudinal cut and extending in a direction normal thereto across substantially the entire width of said cut area.

5. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the flaring sides of the cut are formed by surfaces which converge inwardly at an angle of the order of 46 degrees to 62 degrees.

6. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the angle between the center plane of the cut and a side of the cut is of the order of 23 degrees to 31 degrees.

7. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the cut is at least as great as the thickness of the paperboard in which the cut is disposed, and the angle between the surfaces of the cut is of the order of 46 degrees to 62 degrees.

8. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the cut is at least as great as the thickness of the paperboard in which the cut is disposed and the angle between the flaring sides of the cut is at least 45 degrees.

9. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the maximum width of the cut is approximately .084 inch and the tangent of the angle between the center plane of the cut and one of the flaring sides is equal to approximately .042 divided by the thickness of the paperboard in which the out is disposed.

10. A hinge arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the angle between the flaring sides of the cut is at least 45 degrees.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,075,617 3/ 1937 Kilmer 22944 2,423,756 7/1947 Chaplin 2292.5 3,282,462 11/1966 Box 22031 X JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner J. R. GARRETT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 220-81 

